Najwan again

recently concluded phone conversation with the 6 y.o.

Ibu: dah solat?
N: belum.
Ibu: Solat dulu then.
N: solat apa?
Ibu: Solat zuhurlah.
N: dah pukul 4 dah, solat asar je lah.

definitely good things:
a) he doesn't lie
b) he knows the solat names and their times
c) he can tell time

still making up my mind whether this is good or not
a) negotiation skills

it's probably good just now in the immediate context!

Back again!

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim

Wow! The cobwebs have surely gathered strength here, luckily spring cleaning is not that difficult online :)

Just a question of trying to be more consistent in writing, and as one of the things to do is to really write, this blog has to really get going again. Maybe getting the ipad2 is the way to do it (thanks sayang for this gift). Although the more pressing pieces of writing would be those articles, the motto for now is 'just write'. Ha ha, not that original, but it'll do.

The baby is now going to be 19 months old soon, and she certainly has everyone wrapped around her fingers. She is demanding excusive attention right now so ciao!

School holidays

Kids' project this school holiday -- charity sale.

This is Syira's idea. Basically, a garage sale with the proceeds going to charity. They haven't decided which charity to give to.

They had their first meeting last night. Syira has given out the tasks already, the kids seemed excited about that, even Najwan. Things they no longer want but is still in good condition will be put up for sale.

This morning, they started clearing up #43, target date 5th Dec.

our new princess

Nurhannan. Born 21 Oct 2009 1:45 am. 3.1 kg and 49 cm at 38 weeks gestation.

The birth was quick and relatively easy -- 1+ hour, 1 push, no pain killer.

After work, we went for my 38th week checkup. Dr Zana took a look at my past record and did a VE, and said 'see, you're already at 4-5 cm.' I told her the contractions weren't painful and weren't consistent enough for us to get excited about. Actually, it had been hurting *a lot* when I walked, regardless whether it was contraction time or not, but that was not a reason to go get admitted to the hospital.

Anyway, this time she let me go home and have dinner and told us to come back at 10 pm. So we went home. Had dinner, had my shower, solat isya' then did solat hajat. This was a little different as with the previous ones except for Amjad, we had to rush to the hospital.

The kids came back from their Quran class, we said goodbye. Then we went out for ice-cream and finally at 10.40 reached the maternity centre. They were ready for us, the midwife asked if I was in pain, I said no, she said, 'hmmm.. that's magic.'

We went straight to the labour room. They did the triage their, the contractions were there alright, but I was happy not to feel the pain :). I was at 5 cm. at 11:30 I was still at 5 cm. This was looking to be like a long night. So they decided to hurry things up a bit, put me on IV. The nurses came at 12 and was like surprised I was sitting up and reading the newspaper -- it was the most comfortable position anyway. Another VE, still no progress. So at 12:30 they broke my water.

The big contractions began. After 1 it got progressively painful.

But still with enough presence of mind, at one point I told Rozi "I don't know how to manage my pain anymore", and he said something like 'it's just the age thing' and that got a slap on the wrist from me and a shared laughter, much to the amazement of the nurses :).

1:30 am, I told the midwife I needed to lay on my side so that it wouldn't hurt so much, and it did actually work, and then suddenly I told them, I feel like pushing, and they were like wait, hold on, let's call the dr first, plus I was on my side, I'd squash the baby. The urge came and went, I didn't fight it but I didn't not fight it (?).

So the dr came. They prepped me up, gave me a little refresher on what to do. And then... nothing.

There was no urge, no pain. But the dr just said we'd wait.

And then a little urge ti push, that turned into a big one, and I wasn't really expecting the baby to come out yet, after all, it was the first push, but it was so surreal when I actually felt the baby coming out, and I was so relieved, I forgot to push anymore, and the dr had to tell me to push a little more for the shoulder.

And Nurhannan came into the world, all delightfully covered with vernix -- forgot that part too :).

She was put on my tummy while Papa got the honour to cut the umbilical cord.

snippets

dusting the cobwebs...

3/5/2009. Azraf finally lost his lower front tooth, way after the permanent one is out. In the car, he bit into a burger and ouch! it started to bleed, so no burger there then. A few hours later, he accidentally hit his jaw, and out came the tooth. He's getting RM10 for saving us a RM20 trip to the dentist :).

Najwan is now coming home with the van. Teacher Hani says he's getting naughtier in school -- hmmm.... He has a crush on Fatima (at 4!!!! already!!!). He doesn't want to do Furqan with me at home but insists on getting a turn to do that in school. And 1 page isn't enough, it's usually 3 or 4. He's also Mummy/Teacher Hani's 'pilot test child' on the reading system she just started after attending a course.

Last night, Najwan came to me and told me to eat a lot so that the baby can grow bigger quickly.

Hania is back to pretending on glamorous stuff, this week, it is supermodel, she has mastered the supermodel walk. Blue is still her favourite colour.

Amjad isn't as stressed out about his upcoming UPSR as ibu is. 125 days more to go, but who's counting (definitely not him!).

Two new sofa sets for my birthday :) -- one for home, one for the office.

happy birthday jen

Najwan turned 4 yesterday. Wow! And it's not just the number, he's just growing up by leaps and bounds. He is now so into his preschool, so into doing things that big kids do. He wants trucks, cars and a bicycle for his birthday -- he is so into wheels :).

Amjad made jelly for Najwan to take to school today as part of his party pack. That is another big boy.

The party packs were prepared by Hania, Amjad and Syakira. Kids are certainly growing up. No more running around ragged preparing everything, I just have to buy the stuff for them to do. We're not taking a birthday cake to school, Sahrim made mini muffins, that is so much less messier than a cake.

We went out to Spices for his birthday dinner. Abah bought birthday cake for him while Papa went to buy thomas -- there was no Thomas so he got Gordon instead but same difference to him.

He counted his birthday present this morning -- 3 cars and 1 train -- he is one happy boy :).

earth hour 2009

we observed earth hour last night, from 8:30-9:30.

everybody gathered at mummy's house, so #45 was in total darkness.

we lit lots and lots of tea light, mak ngah, pak ngah and umar happened to visit, umar did not seem to have problems in the dark.

the kids passed the time telling stories, remembering the riddles and jokes they heard and re-telling them. it was as much fun trying to answer the riddles and listening to them trying to help out each other in telling the stories.

even the fans were switched off, am pretty proud of the children.

they even went out at 8:30 to check if the neighbours all observed earth hour, and good thing they all did -- the kids could have pretty laser mouths at times :).